Dusk
by Miryuu
Summary: Setting is a period of time after the end of the game, Cloud goes back to Zax's grave, and unburdens his grief. Angst...


My first fanfic ever, I didn't think this came out too well, but still decided to post it anyway... Please read and enjoy, and don't fall asleep! This story actually looks digestible if you read it while playing the song "my Immortal" by Evanescence...another alternative to enjoy it is just to blindfold yourself and just listen to the song ^ ^  
  
Disclaimer: Cloud, Zax and all other references to FF7 are the property of Squaresoft and I am merely borrowing them to express my artistic side. *Crowd collectively pukes*  
  
Dusk *******  
  
The evening of the day is fast drawing to a close.  
  
A long, dusty ride, a precarious life.  
  
Leather gloves clenched, a giant buster sword hangs by the side that clatters against the droning roar of a motorcycle. Cerulean eyes train themselves steadily on the cliffs... Beneath the leather, metal and sable appearance, a melancholic heart beats wearily.  
  
Oh so tired...  
  
A bunch of slightly withered violets tucked carefully away under a cloak, tiny flowers he'd gathered tenderly from a quaint garden he'd only knew too well. Now, the garden was dying. Dying because the love that once was bestowed upon them... that once brought them life and hope, to rise from beneath the sacred soils of the church...  
  
...was gone.  
  
Cloud's throat tightened, as his trusty motorcycle spurned its way over the dusty plains, devouring the road desperately as it flew far away from the ruins that was once Midgar. Even under the cold, resolute surface, the lone wolf was aching...  
  
It was his first mission. Cloud had been nervous, excited and afraid all at once. Yet beneath it all, he felt a shadow of reluctance and humiliation...He was going back to Nibelheim! But what would his mother say, if she saw that he had failed to make it into soldier, and was just a lowly Shinra grunt?  
  
What would Tifa say?  
  
He'd practiced and recited his lines again and again, what he'd say to both of them. He would try to maintain a shred of dignity, so often cruelly denied to Shinra grunts by their superiors...  
  
That was, with the exception of Zax. Zax was Cloud's superior, a renowned SOLDIER, and Cloud's dearest friend. Their first meeting involved a painful collision, a clatter of metal, and Cloud's furiously blushing apology. Zax responded with a warm forgiving smile (seeing that it was Cloud sprawled on the floor and Zax still standing unmoved) and a gesture to pull Cloud to his feet.  
  
From that day on, Cloud felt that Zax had made it a mental note to look after the clumsy blonde.  
  
In Shinra, Cloud was always the butt of Zax's gentle teasing, the unconscious victim of his warm, infectious smile and an occupant of Zax's strong yet comforting arms at the height of his army miseries, willing or unwilling.  
  
Zax was Cloud's guardian angel.  
  
Now, Zax had burst into the dorm and was happily gabbling away about some new material he'd found, and their mission that would take them to Nibelheim. (Place where the ugly Shinra mansion is, Cloud... blah, blah, color like shit, blah blah, pretty mountains...) Cloud could not help but smile softly. Zax's incessant rambling never failed to lift his spirit, and he felt more relaxed. Trust Zax to ease his worries like that.  
  
"Zax..." The name slipped unconsciously out of his lips, taking him by surprise. The whisper of Zax's name was all too soon caught up by the winds and had vanished into the endless stretch of the plains. But a painful memory brought on by its mention lingered on.  
  
Zax had left, just like that whisper...  
  
Cloud's vision blurred slightly, but he tightened his grip on his bike handles, willing the miles to shrink, to close the gap between him and his destination.  
  
Zax had Cloud on his back. Even in a haze of mako intoxication, Cloud could still make out the slightly slurred but ever positive ramblings of Zax as the soldier wearily trudged towards Midgar.  
  
"We'll settle down in Sector 7, whaddaya say buddy?"  
  
"...Learn to cook..."  
  
"Cloud, my cooking isn't that bad!"  
  
"...urrrghw...ooog..."  
  
"Well, maybe it is. So what? We'll be free of Shinra. No more drills! No more missions, we'll just live our lives with each dawn of a new day...There are so many things waiting for us to do, to discover..."  
  
"urrr..."  
  
"Oh Cloud, and every evening we'll just sit at our doorstep and admire the sunset...I think sunsets are the most beautiful thing on earth... the closure of an old day, the beginning of a new dawn! Just you and me, let's live each day like there's no tomorrow..."  
  
"...Just you and me..."  
  
A promise of solace, of comfort to the two weary figures that was doomed to shatter like the fate of a newborn icicle.  
  
A barrage of bullets. Zack had attempted to cover Cloud's prostrate form, and had taken the full blow of the Shinra soldiers' gunfire.  
  
"Cloud...? Cloud..." "No, Zax no..." "It wasn't meant to be this way, buddy..." "uurrghhh..." "I...I had to protect you..."  
  
Cloud was shaking. dizzy from the shock, Cloud's eyes went hot and moist, his lips burning with all the words he wished to say but simply welled out of his throat as strangled sobs.  
  
"Cloud, live for us...for the...the both of us..."  
  
"uurghh...Zax..."  
  
"Don't keep getting' your spikey ass into danger, okay? Cuz...I don't think...I'll be there...to pull you out...anymore."  
  
And Zax gave a final smile before drawing his last breath. With a gasp of sorrow and disbelief, Cloud sank down beside his friend, and buried his face in Zax's soft black hair. He willed for it all to be just a dream, with all his might, but when night fell so did Cloud's hopes with it.  
  
"Zax..."  
  
Cloud eased himself off his bike and strode towards the overhanging cliff, a place filled with memories, bitter and lingering.  
  
The roar of the motorbike now silenced and the ringing having ceased in his ears, Cloud could now feel the vast stretch of tranquility that surrounded the burial site. He removed the bunch of violets from his cloak, and solemnly placed them on a patch of ground he only knew too well. The patch of ground where Zax had closed his cheerful grey eyes in eternal slumber, where Zax was laid to rest beneath.  
  
"Where shall we rest after the sun has set? A blanket of stars and a rustling bed."  
  
Zax always had a flair for poetry. When all the weary military men had retreated beneath their covers, and the moon hung full and pale in the sky, Cloud could sit for ages, head resting on arm, absorbed in Zax's sudden recitals of creativity. Now, the wind around whistled his sad verses.  
  
"How lonely the darkness that descends overhead. I am by your side, be not afraid."  
  
Cloud drew a painful breath. "Zax, I miss you. I tried to live for you... Oh Zax, it's so lonely out there." If only Zax could see him now. This young man, once fragile, was now heavy and strengthened by the scars of countless battles, stood tall and sturdy against the hurts of the world.  
  
If only Zax could see him now.  
  
"Zax...." Cloud dropped to his knees, his hands touching the brown dirt. He couldn't control himself anymore, and he allowed the sorrow built up inside him to unleash itself and take over his pride. Tears, two trails of silvery sorrow traced the contours of his face, dampening the ground as Cloud grieved upon the soil that blanketed his dearest friend.  
  
The winds suddenly picked up, brushing Cloud's hair lightly as if to comfort him. Instinctively, Cloud looked up. An orange light reflected itself in the depth of his pale liquid blue eyes. He took in a sharp breath of air.  
  
The horizon over Midgar was bathed in a symphony of colours. Cloud stood awestuck by the beauty that seemed to beckon to him, comfort him.  
  
Zax would have loved that sunset...  
  
As the fiery orange sun slowly sunk beneath the horizon, it conducted a vibrant yet silent orchestra of brilliant scarlet, orange and azure hues. The soft glow spread slowly across the dimming evening sky, extending their warmth towards the cliff where Cloud stood. Evening was drawing to a close, with all of Cloud's feelings and sentiments played out by each autumn colour. It was the most beautiful, most magnificent sunset he had ever seen. The winds dropped to a warm breeze, and he almost felt Zax's comforting arms around him once again.  
  
"Just you and me...I think sunsets are the most beautiful thing on earth... the closure of an old day, the beginning of a new dawn."  
  
"Cloud, be strong..."  
  
Cloud stood up and wiped his eyes. Then, he determinedly raised Zax's buster sword high and embedded it firmly on the grave of his best friend. A silent promise fell from his lips. He would be strong.  
  
Cloud turned away and started towards his motorcycle. With each parting step he lifted his chin a little higher, Zax's warm smile imprinted in his memories, in the form of the brilliance of an evening sunset.  
  
**************  
  
Author: Wow it's over. And it's awful. I haven't even been writing short intelligent sentences for the past two years and now I come up with something as large as a fanfic. Oh well, If anyone actually slips into a coma or goes into cringing convulsions while reading this...I'm sorry, man!! ^^ Thanks for you attention! 


End file.
